Chapter 8: 8. Complications & Deepdive

Once both our adventurers left the town hall, they had a few things to do. Leo looked up at the sky, and could see that it was nearly midday. We'll explore the town first, and the defenses it has before heading out to eat. Leo looked in front of him as people carried on about their business.

Let's check the town and the perimeter, then eat lunch and wait for the night. Leo tells Grayfia, who nods beside him.

●●●●

Both of them quickly went back to the middle of the town where the fountain was. Both Leo and Grayfia scanned their surroundings to see if they could find any abnormalities. Grayfia was much more experienced than Leo, so he was relying on her. Leo has gotten a bit stronger since yesterday, but not to the point where he could search this town or the entire area for whoever was responsible.

“Anything?” Leo asked Grayfia.

“…I am not sure, but I feel…something underground.” Grayfia says while glancing at the ground.

Underground? Is there some kind of underground place in this town? Is Patrick—no, is this town hiding something from us? That would be a bit too obvious…although, they did say most incidents have been happening at night. Leo furrowed his brows while looking at the ground. Things started to seem dubious to Leo. He would keep his guard up even more now.

“I won’t make assumptions yet, but let’s go and check the perimeter, and then the rest of the town.” Leo starts to walk one way and Grayfia follows. As they walked through the town, they were again greeted by the locals quite cheerfully.

Like Leo observed earlier, they all looked exhausted, but were still trying to be cheerful. Why are they trying so hard? It’s making them even more suspicious, unless the townspeople aren’t involved in any way and are just suffering… Question after question kept piling up for Leo and he was nowhere near an answer.

This might be a bigger deal than we had anticipated. So much for being an F-ranked quest. But I prefer that… To Leo, this was just another way to get stronger and probably get gold. Even if he had to kill the ones behind it in the end.

Leo looks to his left and sees a building that advertises itself as a small restaurant. “We should go there for lunch.” Leo tells her, and Grayfia turns to look at the building and agrees. We still have quite a bit of gold after all. We should have 25 in total.

<No, earlier, when you devoured those bandits, you gained an extra 30 gold, so right now you have 55 gold coins in total.> Ageha adds in surprising Leo.

55 gold? Wait, what happened to the extra 30 then? he asked her confused.

<I am holding onto them. I will give it to you when you need it or if you have a proper place to store them.> she informs him.

Ah, I see, um thanks. He thanked her but got no response, so didn’t try to push it. “We have 55 gold, so we shouldn’t be strapped for money.” But when both of them passed the restaurant they both felt as if many of the people in there were looking at them. Leo briefly glanced at the window and saw that they were staring at them and not trying to hide it.

Leo decided not to say anything and wait until they got to the walls of the city. They weren’t tall, so neither of them had any problems getting over them. Immediately after jumping over it, in front of them was an endless sea of trees. Leo felt the Ki a certain distance in front of them and could feel normal animals and monsters somewhere deep in there.

Not too far to their right was one of the ‘Celestial Nails’ that Alma mentioned. Leo started walking towards it and once he arrived at it, he started to examine it. Hey, Ageha can you tell me anything about it? He tried his luck, and luckily for him, Ageha responded.

<Yes you’re correct in what you’re thinking. These were made by the Gods, or at the very least, the item inside it was made by them. The humans in this world, more specifically, the ones on the continent of Oseon, created these, and distributed them all across the world. It helps prevent monsters from entering a certain area.>

<Create enough of them in a circular grid, and you have a safety haven. Of course, make sure to have some around the inner part of your town or city, otherwise monsters who can fly can get through.>

Wait, they have a limited area of effect? Leo asked.

<Yes, the Gods may have done that on purpose, or not, who knows? Anyway, figure the rest out yourself, it is a quest you accepted.> with that Ageha stopped responding to Leo.

They might have done it on purpose, huh? So, I can assume that some monster might have figured out a way to bypass it? Or…is it even a monster at all? The possibility was still in Leo’s mind that their ‘enemy’ or ‘monster’ might not be a monster at all. They could have been a human…or a demon. Either way, Leo liked it since it changed from a simple mundane quest to a more meaningful one.

He also wouldn’t put it past humans to do something like take other humans to experiment on. Some of the town's residents gave him weird vibes, so he was on guard now. “What do you think? I just spoke with Ageha, so before I tell you what she said, I want to know your thoughts.” Leo asks Grayfia who was still staring at the Celestial Nail.

Grayfia didn’t answer Leo right away, instead she focused on the nail. So in turn, Leo sat on the wall and waited for Grayfia. Leo took this small opportunity to see what he could do with this Ki. He wondered if it worked the same way as mana, so he tried to cover his whole body with it.

Kshhh!!

To his surprise it wasn’t difficult, and he felt his entire body flowing with life energy. It wasn’t pure white, but it was a slight shade of dark purple. “So this is my Ki…” he muttered to himself while looking at it. He didn’t feel his stamina draining and found it odd. I thought it was tied to it…?

<It is, however, the drain on you is significantly slower than your mana. You will start to feel it if you keep that aura up. Also, look below you.> Ageha piped up and instructed Leo to look down and he did.

To Leo’s surprise, the grass below him started to grow quite quickly. Seeing what was happening, he dismissed his aura and it stopped growing. I guess it has a lot more effects than just increasing my physical prowess and being able to launch ki-based attacks, huh? he thought and then looked back at Grayfia who had been staring at him.

“Oh, hey, did you hear my question earlier?” he asks her and she nods.

“This ‘Celestial Nail’ has the same energy emanating from it as the light powers of the angels of my universe, and the holy artifacts they have like the Holy Swords. If a devil is exposed to them at a close range or too high of a density, they will simply cease to exist.” Grayfia pauses to look at the nail again and back at Leo.

“The same applies to this nail and the monsters and perhaps the demons of this world. If they get too close it hurts them, that’s why it’s been made like this.”

“I see…all right, so this is what I got from Ageha.” Leo tells her what he and Ageha just discussed, and Grayfia listens to him carefully.

“So they have a limited range? If so, then it makes sense if a monster somehow finds a way to bypass it eventually. Perhaps tunneling underground? I did feel something under there earlier. Or they could possibly fly high enough to avoid it. Regardless of how, we will see by tonight, Leo-sama.”

Leo agrees. “Yeah we will. So this thing is working correctly, right?" he asks Grayfia and she nods. “Good, let’s move on and check the rest. Maybe one of them has stopped working. If the one that got through had any intelligence, they might have tried to destroy this thing from a distance.”

Although Leo did assume these things—whatever the ‘main’ part the Gods made was a lot more durable and it couldn't be destroyed by just anyone that felt like it. To Leo, he thinks that the ‘core’ has to be durable, but the man-made steel poles should be breakable.

Wait...a steel pole? If one of them is broken, then all they need to do is misplace it. Once it’s not in the center or where it should be...then the set area it can protect will change. This will give them more room to come in and out as they pleased… Leo turns to Grayfia and tells her his thoughts.

“…That could also be a possibility. If they are a group of monsters, humans or even demons...then it is possible, if they attack this structure, make it fall then it will leave them room to come from the top.” Grayfia looks at the nail and then to the sky. “Shall we see if all of these are at the same height, Leo-sama?”

“Yeah. Let’s do that…” Leo looked around him and got ready. He had no idea how many of these were around the town.

●●●●

Growl~

“…Forgive me, Leo-sama.” Grayfia blushed as her stomach let out a hungry growl. Leo looked over at her and chuckled.

A few hours had passed for the both of them, and they only got around to checking half of the nails. They didn’t anticipate there would be this many nails around the town. Thus, they were a little confused as to how someone or something could get through.

“Yeah, I guess it’s time for lunch. We managed to check half of them and they seemed to be on the same height, and no changes. Let’s go eat and then come back to it.” Leo says and they make their way back into town. He already picked a restaurant earlier, so he would go in there, although he had more than just eating in mind since it piqued his interest.

However, Leo didn’t think it would take this long, but at the same time he wanted to be extra careful and make sure that none of them were the cause. This would allow them to focus on everything else for tonight.

As he mused about this, they eventually arrived at the restaurant that Leo wanted to go to. It was called ‘The Eaters’. And I thought I had a bad naming sense… Leo smirked at the name but still entered the establishment. Once inside, Leo saw that the same people from a few hours earlier were still there. They also didn’t look friendly or welcoming at all. Leo starts to take a step, but an elderly gentleman stands in front of him.

“Young man…out of the kindness of my heart, I suggest you and your lady friend leave this town…” the old man says ominously. This obviously puts both Leo and Grayfia on high-alert but they don’t visibly react.

“May we inquire why?” Leo asks the old man who sighs at him.

“You heard from the mayor, correct? Previous adventures have disappeared from here. If you do not depart by sundown, you will be the next batch. I wouldn't want young people like you to have their lives snuffed out of them. So I’m warning you.” The old man pulls out a cigarette from somewhere, lights it up and starts smoking.

Hmm. I guess these guys know about what’s going on—the actual truth…but I doubt they’ll tell us. Leo smiles. "Thank you for the warning, but we have to follow through with it. We’ll go find a different place to eat.” Leo gives everyone in the room a curt nod. However, they all give them a pitying look, and a few sighed.

When they started to leave Leo heard the old man say “I tried to warn them.” While sounding dejected. Both of them walked away and then finally stopped.

“So, it looks like they’re vaguely aware of what’s happening. I don’t think it’s all of them, but a vast majority of them are, so why did the mayor keep the information from us? They could be scared that we might just leave, right?” Leo says to himself, and then looks at Grayfia who agrees with him.

“Let’s just eat for now and discuss it later.” Thus, Leo and Grayfia left to find a different restaurant, and it didn’t take them long to find a new one, and the locals there were a lot more receptive, but still a little tense.

●●●●

"Delicious food and cheap prices, my kind of restaurant." Leo says, sighing in satisfaction. In total, all they had to pay was 50 silvers, and Leo decided to give them 1 gold and keep the rest. They would also be heading back there for dinner. “Well, time to get back to it then.” Leo looked at Grayfia who was looking somewhere else. Leo followed her gaze and found that she was looking at…

…? Leo saw a shadow quickly move along the trees, but when he tried to try to sense it with his Ki, he couldn’t feel anything. After staring at the spot for a few more seconds Grayfia turned to Leo and shook her head.

“It’s nothing Leo-sama. I may have just seen something out of the corner of my eye. But it had a humanoid shape to it.” Grayfia didn’t dismiss it, but decided it would be better to tell Leo than to keep it to herself. My eyes may be tricking me, but I thought I saw it with red skin… Grayfia thought, but she noticed Leo starting to wander away.

“Let’s keep an eye out then. But let's finish what we set out to do before chasing other leads." Grayfia agreed with Leo and they went back to checking nails for the time being. It won’t take too long, only half are left and we have a few more hours of daylight left. Leo looked at the sky and it was just a little past midday now.

●●●●

“…Nothing, huh? Now we’re back at square one…” Leo sighs and sits on the wall. They had finished checking all the nails around the town but found nothing. Leo was frustrated. While he didn’t expect this to be easy, he didn’t like the fact that they found nothing after a day of searching.

The only other thing of significance is the shadow that Grayfia and I saw, and even then, we’re not entirely sure if we saw something there. I doubt the mayor or the that old man and his group would tell us anything if we asked. Leo sighed again and looked up at the sky. The day was starting to come to an end, the sun was beginning to set.

“Night is coming…let’s head back and have an early dinner, Grayfia. We don’t know when everyone else locks up for the day.” Leo says and gets off the wall.

“Yes, Leo-sama.” Replied Grayfia. As Leo starts to walk back into the town, Grayfia glances back at the trees. She had an uneasy feeling about them. She wasn’t worried about what enemy she would face since she knew she was stronger than it, but…

She is currently an adventurer and Leo and her took a job to try to solve this mystery and drive away the monster terrorizing them. So she would try to see it through all the way. She also didn’t want to disappoint Leo. We will solve it by tomorrow, nothing more, nothing less. Grayfia Lucifuge was determined to get this done by tomorrow.

●●●●

Ring~

When Leo and Grayfia walked through the door, the bell chimed above them, signaling new customers.

“Hey boss, we’re back!” Leo shouts as they enter the ‘Crab Formula’ tavern. However, it had significantly fewer people now, contrary to earlier in the day during lunch.

“…Welcome back, Leo, Bina. Early dinner?” the owner asks the two, and Leo nods. “Here is what’s available for dinner.” He puts a menu in front of them and they look through it.

There are fewer people, the atmosphere is tense. They must be preparing to lock up for the day. Leo also wasn’t going to say anything since he would probably make the tense atmosphere even tenser and might get them kicked out.

After a few minutes of silence and quiet chatter, their food arrived. Grayfia and Leo proceeded to eat their meal in silence. It would be convenient if me and Grayfia could speak with each other telepathically or something. Leo thought to himself as he sighed.

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<You can unlock that.>

What? Leo was a bit shocked; he hadn’t heard from Ageha for a couple of hours, and he was also shocked that he could do something like that. Explain. He told Ageha.

<You and Grayfia are in the infancy stages of your relationship, right now you two are in the ‘master’ and ‘servant’ relationship. If you two become closer, then you can telepathically communicate with each other, even if you’re in different universes.>

…Does that mean what I think it means? Leo asked.

<Yes. Make her your woman.> Ageha said bluntly.

Leo had suspected as much when Ageha said that he could speak to her like that. He seemed to be a long way off from achieving that goal. Leo wouldn’t mind that kind of intimacy and relationship with Grayfia, but he had other things to deal with. If I find some downtime in the future, I’ll ask her out. But for now, Leo would focus on getting stronger and expanding his knowledge of this world.

Beep!!

When both Grayfia and Leo were nearly done eating their dinner, a sound resounded throughout the whole town. It was a loud beeping noise. Everyone in the tavern suddenly got up, put down some money and rushed out.

“You two…pay now, and just leave your plates there. We—I need to go home for the night…” the owners said rather abruptly. Leo and Grayfia looked at each other and nodded.

“Sure thing, boss. Thanks for the food.” Leo gave an extra tip and left the tavern. The owner seemed relieved and guilty. He was relieved that they didn’t ask questions, but felt guilty for not telling them anything.

Please forgive me, you two…! He asked for their forgiveness if they survived the night. The other adventurers clearly didn’t.

●●●●

I feel a little extra by doing this, but it makes sense. Leo thought as he and Grayfia stood at the highest point of the town, the church. Following the end of the beeping sound, all the residents of the town entered their homes and locked them.

But Leo could see the town hall’s lights were still on and on one of its balconies, he could make out that Alma was there waiting and watching them. Leo thought she was just worried about them, or watching to see what they would do during the night. ‘If it’s dangerous, shouldn’t she be heading inside and locking it?’ However, his train of thought was interrupted when both of them heard a loud noise.

—Awooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Wolves…? No, werewolves? That’s too cliché…it can’t be it. Leo searched the entire town using his Ki and found a pack of werewolves standing at the edge of the forest. Their glowing eyes scouring the town.

…?! Suddenly, Leo felt his skin crawl and he felt Grayfia’s power slowly building up. Leo frantically looked around and he saw it—red, and glowing eyes. What the hell is that?! Could it be a… but before he could finish his sentence, the figure stepped into the moonlight and—.

“It’s a human, he seems injured, Leo-sama.” Grayfia says beside him as both of them look at the figure staggering towards the town. They could also see his mouth moving. “It appears he’s shouting for ‘help’, Leo-sama. What should we do?” she asked him.

Leo focused some ki into his eyes. He had no idea if this would work but…it did, and he could zoom in and see the man’s lips moving, and it indeed was saying 'help'. Leo did the same thing with his ears, and they started to get enchanted.

“Help! Someone help!!” the man screamed. Leo could also see that he was bleeding profusely. A large chunk of his side was missing too. A look of despair was evident on his face. But it was cut short when the nearby werewolves ran towards the man.

The man wasn’t near the town yet as he was still limping towards the walls. Suddenly, he turns to his left and sees the werewolves running towards him. “No, no, no!!!!!!!” he screamed. However, he wasn’t immediately mauled to death. They captured him, bit his leg off and dragged him away. “Heeeellpp!!!” he screamed one more time. The werewolves glanced both Leo and Grayfia’s way before vanishing into the forest.

“No matter what way you look at it…that’s definitely a trap.” Leo commented while looking at the spot where they vanished from.

“Yes, it is.” Grayfia agreed. The town was now silent. It felt eerie to the both of them. It almost felt it scripted. Like those werewolves were waiting for them and using that man to lure them somewhere.

“Well, we won’t solve anything by waiting…let’s go.” Leo stepped near the edge of the church’s roof. Even though he knew it was a trap, whatever those things were trying to lead them to…that’s where the answer lay. This isn't training, I won't hesitate to employ the [True Longinus] for this. Leo thought, leaping from the roof of the church to another.

Grayfia followed him and they eventually reached the area where the man was dragged away. Both of them could see blood on the grass, like it had been deliberately smeared there, and when they looked further ahead, a trail was visible.

I can only feel one of them…it’s definitely a trap… Leo took a deep breath before exhaling. “Let’s go.” Both of them sprinted into the forest, Leo in the lead and Grayfia following. The speed at which they were moving was quite fast as mostly everything around them was a blur. However, they weren’t attacked by anything.

Leo was following that one life energy he could pinpoint, the single ki he could find. So he ran towards it…but when they arrived at the spot, Leo was confused. "It's a house?" he said in a confused tone. A lone house stood in this clearing.

The moonlight illuminated the trees around the house, as if it were a fairy tale. However, it didn't come close to that as the house was abandoned and in disarray. The windows were broken, the wood was rotting, the grass around it was overgrown, but…

“This is where the ki was.” Leo said, but then remembered what Grayfia said earlier in the day. Underground… Leo looked at the house and a thought came to him, perhaps there were stairs that would lead them underground? To what exactly, Leo wasn’t sure.

Leo stepped toward the house and kept on walking. Grayfia followed him with her guard up. There was no door to the home, so Leo didn’t need to worry about it. Once inside he saw that it was also as filthy as the outside. All the once rich furniture had rotted and been damaged beyond repair, pictures of a family had been shattered and molded, and everything else had been damaged beyond repair.

Leo looked around the room but couldn’t find a staircase that led down. Leo saw another open entrance and entered through it. The room he entered was the kitchen, or whatever was left of it. It was in the same state as the other room, however, he also found nothing here.

“Leo-sama.” Grayfia called out his name and he turned around. She pointed at an intact door, but it was slightly ajar. Leo nodded and began walking towards it. Upon arriving in front of the door, he opened it and saw stairs.

“Bingo, nice work, Grayfia," Leo said as he descended the stairs with Grayfia in tow. However, since it was pitch black, he ignited his fist and illuminated his surroundings. The stairs seemed to stretch on forever as both Grayfia and Leo kept descending for the next few minutes until they came to a basement area.

“A basement?” Leo asked while looking around. The room was relatively large but did not have much, and it also stunk worse than the upper part of the house, but what drew both of their attention was—.

“Is that a hole in the ground?” Leo asked again, but his question was met with silence. Leo walked towards it and peered down at it. I can’t see shit…how about… Leo summoned a small ball of fire and then dropped it into the hole.

However, it wasn’t large enough to illuminate anything and he only saw what was around the ball, and what was nothing. “Well, that failed…hey, Grayfia, do you feel anything down there?” Leo asked as she was standing beside him.

“It’s faint, but I feel some sort of magic down there. Perhaps it’s the wolf youkais?"

“Well, one way to find out.” Leo grinned at Grayfia and jumped into the hole. Grayfia who watched her master jump into the hole sighed.

He can be smart at times and stupid the next... Grayfia thought, so she followed him down the path.

Leo quickly and quietly fell down the hole. Everything around him was darkness, however, he wasn’t freaked out by it. In a weird way, he felt comfortable in it. Perhaps it was because of his name? Schwarzer, the black one or the dark one. Either way, Leo didn’t feel uneasy, and his vision quickly adjusted while there.

He enchanted his eyes with his ki and he gained a sort of night vision. Looking around him as he fell, he was surrounded by rocks. He looked below him and could see the ground getting closer to him. He jumped down without much of a plan. Therefore, Leo summoned his [True Longinus] and stabbed it into the wall slowing his fall to a halt and then pushed himself off.

He landed at the bottom without taking any damage. His spear was left on the wall and he put his hand towards it and to his surprise, it flew back into his hands. Good boy. Even though it wasn’t sentient, he praised it. Grayfia soon landed beside him and she did it rather gracefully.

“Are you ready?” he asked her and she simply nodded. They then started walking forward with Leo igniting his hand again, but he didn’t need to do it for too long since—.

"Wow..." Leo said with bated breath. After entering some kind of tunnel, they came to an open space that was so vast that Leo could not see the ceiling. The entire place was being illuminated by blue and purple crystals that were glowing quite brightly.

“This is certainly something…” Even Grayfia couldn’t help but be surprised by what she saw.

But...what the hell is this? Blue and purple crystals? A large cave? Werewolves? This doesn’t make sense… Leo sighed and looked at Grayfia. “Let’s get this investigation started. You were quite obvious earlier you know? You want to get this done by tomorrow, right?” Leo says with a grin.

“…Yes, however, I have come to believe that this is a slightly higher ranked quest now. Melissa is saddened by the fact that her mother was reported missing not too long after this started. I wish to find out about this mystery too.”

Leo was stunned by this. He didn’t expect Grayfia to get that close to Melisa that quickly. However, he didn’t keep an eye on her too much, or listen to their conversation during their journey to this town. He wanted to give them some privacy. He also spoke with Patrick from time to time.

“…I see, let’s go then.”

●●●●

Bang!

“You have better brought them you piece of shit.” A demon hissed at the injured human.

“I did! I did! I called out, screamed my lungs out. I-I can eat, right?!” the human asked the demon.

The demon kicked him in the face and he crashed into the stone wall with a loud thud. The human groans but something else was thrown towards him. The man looked up while still in pain. He saw a piece of raw red meat.

“Thank you!” He thanked the demon, and immediately started shoveling the red meat into his mouth, savoring it. Food, food, food, food!!! The man thought as he ate the meat like he hadn’t eaten in days.

I need more power. The demon thought as he looked at the pathetic human in front of him. If I want to go back there, I need more strength. This dumb plan has been way too slow. I will have to find a way to accelerate it. The demon looked at the human again and scoffed.

If what he said earlier was true, then those humans he lured in are powerful. If I kill and eat them, then I can grow even more. The demon grinned and then looked over to his right side. There were cages there, and in one of them was a young girl silently crying as her mouth was sealed with some tape.

The demon walks over and kicks the cage. “Just wait sweetie, you’ll be the last one I consume. "Your papa was quite tasty to eat." He says with a sickening grin.

Patrick, the man that Leo and Grayfia saved earlier in the day, had been dead for over a month. This demon used illusion magic to trick everyone around him. But that begs the question, how did he get past the celestial nail that keeps demons out?

The power to bring back the dead, necromancy. The demon used a combination of necromancy, illusion magic and an item he found in Ekor, the Demon realm. A former angel created by the Gods who betrayed them and joined the Demon’s side. Lefuvaoem, the original ‘fallen angel’.

One of the things created by the Gods hundreds of years ago was this item. Why? No one knows the truth, however, Lefuvaoem was the one who brought it to the Demon realm. Through the passage of time, it was lost, but this lucky demon managed to find it.

For small periods of time, the wielder of this item can place a small spell on anyone and can cancel the effects of the celestial nail.

Lefuvaoem, also known as rank 1 of the Demon Knights. He has challenged Demon Queen Lucinda many times over, but could never win. So, he reassigned himself to becoming a rank 1 Demon Knight instead.

“Hmm?” the demon looked at a werewolf. “So they’re here? Perfect…you! Go out there and put on the act!” the demon ordered the human that was still eating the meat.

“Y-Yes, master!!” He hurriedly ran away.

The demon grinned and used transformation magic. He changed himself into a bleeding and injured ‘Patrick’. The girl in the cage started to cry louder as she saw the demon change into her father.

Leo…Bina…run away, it’s a trap…! She begged in her mind and heart.

“Now then, let’s start this show, shall we?” the demon grinned ever wider.

●●●●

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